Tuesday, March 28, 2017

Julie Davis stops by the Reading Envy Pub, where we talk about rereading, slowing down to appreciate an author's craft, and the best spy adventure the Vatican has ever seen! We also talk about good books we've read lately.

I'm going on my first silent retreat in April, so I wanted to read the Howd and O'Reilly in preparation. I'm headed to Baltimore soon and snagged the Bell and Coates for that purpose, but it turns out that the Chabon is also set there. I read the Orr for the Republic of Consciousness Prize, checked out the Kennard and Sinclair for the Dylan Thomas Prize list, the Barnhill and Shawl for the Nebula, the Chabon & Palmer & Hill for the Tournament of Books, the Melrose for the Baileys, and the Oz for the Man Booker International Prize.

The Fong is the April book for my in-person book club; the rest were just books I was interested in.

I review every book I read on Goodreads, and a hefty chunk of these are already done!

These piles are an eternal tribute to the library where I work, because all but one book comes from their collection or through the statewide consortium, or infrequently, an interlibrary loan.

Tuesday, March 14, 2017

Scott and Jenny go back and read books mentioned by other people in previous episodes of Reading Envy, because of course we get reading envy too! This is not a repeat episode, but a new look at books that may have only been mentioned in passing on previous episodes. Jenny will link to the original episode mentions in case you want to hear another perspective after hearing this episode.

Related Episodes:Episode 014 - Flannery O'Connor with Zombies with Jason and Scott Episode 052 - The Man with the Eyebrows with Philip and ScottEpisode 058 - Wishing for a Sequel with ScottEpisode 071 - Bad Priest, Good Priest, No Priest with Scott

Tuesday, March 7, 2017

Jenny sits down alone by the fire at the Reading Envy Pub to bend your ear about our first ever readalong, and the birth of a new online community. This is a quick episode, and you still have time to get a copy of this book to participate in the readalong. I hope to see you there.

I feel like my book acquisition is changing! Most of these are either review copies or subscription services, all except two.

The Adichie, Morrison, and Bennett came in a review copy of the Quarterly.co fiction box, which I'll review as a set soon (I've read 2/3 of the books.) I was happy to end up with a copy of the Bennett due to its position on the Tournament of Books shortlist, and I had not selected it when it was a Book of the Month option.

The Sullivan and Winton came directly from the publishers, which was great (and Sullivan herself contacted me when she saw I was reading another book from Feminist Press, Black Wave. The Saunders, Elison, and Carosella are all audio review books from their respective publishers.

Sheffield was a gift from my Litsy postal book swap for Valentines Day and I'm looking forward to reading it! It's been on my TBR list forever. The Khalifa is a book I wanted to buy in January for my borders reading project, but it was out of stock on Amazon for at least a month. It is set in Aleppo and I don't expect it to be exactly a light read.

The Kimani was the February selection for the Malaprops subscription, and the Wilson and Lee were selections through Book of the Month. I had a few bonus credits so I picked two this month. Have I read them yet? Nope. Ha.